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A leper is permitted to return to the community after completing seven days of isolation. However, the Torah imposes additional requirements for the individual to be permitted to enter the מקדש. On the seventh day, the day he returns to the community, he is again required to shave, wash his clothes and bathe his body. On the eighth day, he brings three animals as קרבנות, plus the מנחה that accompanies these קרבנות.
Reacceptance into the community is like a rebirth; the former leper can once again interact with neighbors and friends. However, a second rebirth is required to permit him to join in the expressly Jewish community of the מקדש. For this, he must again shave, יגלח, wash, כבס and bathe, ורחץ. He then renews his covenant with God’s Torah by bringing three קרבנות: two lambs, כבשים and a ewe lamb, כבשה.
The word יגלח is from the root ג-ל-ח which means "to remove hair." The word כבס is from the root כ-ב-ס "to scrub." The word רחץ is from the root ר-ח-ץ "to wash thoroughly." The words כבשים, כבשה are from the root כ-ב-ש "to whiten." Lambs have white wool.
Specifically, one lamb is brought as an אשם, guilt offering, the ewe is brought as a חטאת, sin offering, and the second lamb as an עולה, elevation offering. Nowhere else is there a command to bring this specific trio of קרבנות. This unique command underscores the uniqueness of a recovered leper’s return to the Jewish community and to the מקדש.
The three קרבנות represent different aspects of a person’s nature. קרבנות. The אשם is brought to erase the person’s past. He brings it first because it counteracts the egoism that caused him to contract leprosy in the first place. Second, the חטאת is brought to focus the person on the ethical and moral obligations imposed on him by the Torah. Third, the עולה is brought, in order to elevate the person and bring him closer to God and His Torah.
The word אשם is from the root א-ש-ם "to self-destruct". This root is a derivative of ש-מ-ם "to destroy. The אלף highlights the personal aspect of self-destruction. The word חטאת is from the root ח-ט-א "to sin". The word עולה is from the root ע-ל-ה "to elevate".
The verse also states that these three קרבנות are to be accompanied by a מנחה. A מנחה consists of pure flour, סולת, mixed with oil, שמן, along with the wine libation, נסך יין. These three ingredients represent the individual’s future: sustenance, represented by the flour, comfort, represented by the oil, and the joy of life, represented by the wine.
The word מנחה is from the root מ-נ-ח "to give willingly". The word סולת is from the root ס-ל-ת "to shake energetically". Fine flour is the result of heavy sifting. The word שמן is from the root ש-מ-ן "to nourish". The word נסך is from the root נ-ס-ך "to pour".
The final element in the קרבנות is a separate measure of oil, לוג שמן, representing physical health. The person who recovered from leprosy, a physical illness, initiates a new covenant with God and His Torah, ensuring a healthy future.
Just as a lamb is cared for and protected by the shepherd, who guides the lambs, the purified leper now turns to the Shepherd of Israel to direct his future.
Copyright © 2014, Matityahu Clark. All Rights Reserved. This is an excerpt from the forthcoming Hirsch At Your Table, a collection of brief divrei torah based on R. Samson Raphael Hirsch’s Torah Commentary.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
